Outline of Nicomachean Ethics

Book I
To understand what moral goodness is we must study the soul of man
o Aristotle says that happiness is an activity in accordance with perfect virtue which
means that to be happy, that is, to be in the state of happiness, then we are (a) doing
something virtuous and(b) our happiness is higher or lower based upon how perfectly
we do this virtue.
o Because this is the case, we have to look at what virtue is and how this is related to the
community. We have to look at the group, at the political whole, since this is the person
we are looking to have virtue.
o Aristotle says that the goodness he is looking at is not physical, but an activity of the
soul and if we are to understand the happiness of a human, then we must study the soul
of man in its relation to the whole.
The several faculties of the soul distinguished
o The human is made of a rational and irrational part of their soul
Irrational:
Vegetative (nutrition and growth)
Appetitive (the is our desire which can be for or against reason; how this
is related to reason is why we use the words of admonition, reproof,
and encouragement)
o Man of Virtue both desires the good and does his desire
o Continent Man knows the good, but has appetites (pleasure,
anger, other emotions, etc.) and usually can allow reason to
prevail
o Incontinent Man knows the good, but has appetites that they
usually cannot defeat in terms of reason and so makes decisions
based upon their appetite
o Man of Vice refuses to do what an ethically virtuous person
would do because they are convinced that justice, temperance,
generosity, etc. are of little or no value (they are driven by
desire for domination and luxury and single-minded in pursuit
of these goals)
Rational
o Virtue is divided according to the difference in the soul
Intellectual Virtues wisdom, understanding, and prudence
Moral virtues liberality and temperance
Book II
Moral Virtues, like crafts, are acquired by practice and habituation
o Since virtue is of two types, then there are two ways that these are acquired:
Intellectual virtue acquired by instruction (so needs time and experience)
Moral virtue acquired by habit (and so are not in us by nature, but also are not
contrary to our nature since we can develop these)
o All our faculties are gained from potential actual, but the virtues are gained by doing
them, by acting them out (like things we learn in the arts; it is like learning an
instrument, so we are not born good or bad, but what we learn early is of ultimate
importance for our disposition)
In practical science, so much depends on particular circumstances that only general rules can be
given
o Ethics is a practical science, therefore we dont aim at what the good is, but how to be
good; we are applying our minds to the problem of how to act (since it is these actions
which determine our dispositions)
o Each subject matter allows different levels of precision (i.e., we need to know the ruler
we are using or else we might get irritated at the end and think our results are vague
when actually, we got the answer we were seeking). In ethics, we dont in the end gain
the explicitness of doing physics.
A cardinal rule: right conduct is incompatible with excess or deficiency in feelings and actions
o Aristotle says that moral qualities are destroyed by the two extremes excess and
deficiency. This means that a central virtue will be temperance.
Our virtues are exercised in the same kinds of action as gave rise to them
o Aristotle means that we should fake it until we make it and eventually we will find that
we dont have to fake it anymore because we will want to do these actions after a
period of time. This does not mean we just quit then, but we exercise what we have
created in us so that we then practice our skill. Virtues are on par with skill for Aristotle.
The pleasure or pain that actions cause the agent may serve as an index of moral progress, since
good conduct in a proper attitude towards pleasure and pain
o Aristotle here points out to the fact that we should pay attention to what we like and
dont like and this will show how far we have come in our moral progress. If you quit
eating fast food but you think about it every second, then you are still addicted to fast
food. So, the point for Aristotle is the same one as above we are our dispositions and
we need to take control of our desires through habituation.
o The reason for this is that bad action comes from bad dispositions, therefore we need
training in a proper attitude to be moral.
o We need to train ourselves in three areas the fine/base, advantageous/harmful, and
pleasant/painful. As long as we have a correct disposition to these three factors we can
make correct choices
Acts that are incidentally virtuous are distinguished from those that are done knowingly, of
choice, and from a virtuous disposition.
o Aristotle furthers what he is saying above by stating that it is not enough that we just
happen to do some action, we must do it for the right reason.
In order to define virtue we must decide to what class or genus it belongs. It is not a feeling or a
faculty, but a disposition
o Aristotle says that the soul is made of (a) feelings (b) faculties and (c) dispositions
Feelings = desire, anger, fear, envy, joy, hatred, longing, pity, etc.; these are all
the conditions which are attended by pleasure and pain
Faculties = that which we have in ourselves which allows us to be capable of
feelings
Dispositions = that which disposes us to have one feeling rather than another
(like we might have a disposition to get angry or to be emotional)
o Where then are we to place virtue?
(a) They cannot be feelings why since people dont not called good or bad
just based on our feelings (we arent blamed for being angry, but being angry in
a certain way); also, we dont have a choice usually on our feelings
(b) They cannot be faculties we are not praised or blamed b/c we are capable
of feeling; what faculties we have, we have by nature (and nature does not
make us good or bad)
(c) Therefore, virtues are dispositions
What is differentia? Any excellence enables its possessor to function; therefore this is true of
human excellence, i.e., virtue
o What kind of disposition is virtue? It is that which makes an excellence good and allows
it to perform its function well
For a human, the human excellence is the disposition that makes a man good
and causes him to perform his function well
This is confirmed by the doctrine of the Mean
o The mean in relation to the human is that which is neither excessive or deficient (and
this is not one and the same for all people)
o If I am lifting weights, then the mean for me is different than the mean for you; the
mean to all things in ethics is relative to us
o Aristotle is wanting us to have the right feelings at the right time toward the right
people for the right motive and in the right way (this is the mark of virtue); failure is
possible many ways, but for success, only one
A provisional definition of virtue
o Virtue is a purposive disposition; it is a mean that is relative to us and determined by the
rational principle of the mean btw the two vices of excess and deficiency
But the rule of choosing the mean cannot be applied to some actions and feelings, which are
essentially evil
o Not every action or feeling has a mean take malice, envy, adultery, theft, murder;
these are just evil in themselves
The doctrine of the mean applied to particular virtues

The mean is often nearer to one extreme than to the other, or seems nearer because of our
natural tendencies
o We can have within us three types of disposition disposition for excess, disposition for
deficiency, and disposition for the mean
Summing up of the foregoing discussion, together with three practical rules for good conduct
o Because virtue is the mean between two vices, it is difficult to be good because it is hard
to discover the midpoint. To do things well is rare and an achievement
o For this reason, if you want to reach this, then keep away from the extreme which is
more contrary to the mean that the deficiency
Far from this surf and surge keep thou thy ship
o Aristotle gets practical here he says:
(1) Keep away from the extreme
(2) Notice the errors which you are liable to fall based on your natural
tendencies
(3) Guard against pleasure since we are not impartial judges of pleasure; we
should do what the Trojan elders did towards Helen (agree to her beauty, but
make her go back to Greece)
o To sum up: by following these rules we shall have the best chance of hitting the mean.
But this is presumably difficult, especially in particular cases; because it is not easy to
determine what is the right way to be angry, and with whom, and on what grounds, and
for how long. Indeed we sometimes praise those who show deficiency, and call them
patient, and sometimes those who display temper, calling them manly. However, the
man who deviates only a little from the right degree, either in excess or in deficiency, is
not censured only the one who goes too far, because he is noticeable. Yet it is not
easy to define by rule for how long, and how much, a man may go wrong before he
incurs blame; no easier than it is to define any other object of perception. Such
questions of degree occur in particular cases, and the decision lies with our perception.
o This much, then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended. But
one should incline sometimes towards excess and sometimes towards deficiency,
because in this way we shall most easily hit upon the mean, that is, the right course. . . .